Just bought my first powerbook and need help! please

It has a slot ready for the original AirPort card and I don't think there is supposed to be a PCMCIA slot. Mate, check out MacTracker for a decent rundown of specs.

Its the one that looks like a PCMCIA card.

Needless to say it is also the one that is most expensive as it has been out of production for 3 years.

If it's 550 MHz, you have this one:

http://apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=pg4_giga&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC

There *is* a PC card slot. Separately, there is also a slot for an Airport card, which is basically also a PC card. It looks like this:



You don't want one that looks like this (note the word extreme):



The Airport cards are available on eBay, here occasionally (best option in terms of price), and on-and-off, from vendors like SmallDog, Amazon, etc. They can be kind of pricey, but you can get them for $30 or $40 if you shop around. It will provide you with 802.11b only -- no g and no a. It does support WPA over 802.11b, though, I think.

Siddymae said:

pc slot? pcmcia? what do you mean seperately?

Click to expand...

My understanding is that this Powerbook has an Airport card slot, under the keyboard, and also a PCMCIA card slot on the side of the chassis. That's what Apple History says.

1) So, you could, in principle, find a b or g card that'll work with OS X for the PC Card slot. I don't have any recommendations, but I'm sure they're out there. A quick search listed this site...I've heard of people using that Dell TrueMobile if you can still find it.

2) I've heard of people modifying cards (I think it was that Dell, again), to fit in the airport slot, so that they don't stick out the side of the computer. I've heard of this more commonly in iBooks than in TiBooks, though, so I'm not 100% sure what your options are there.

3) You could get a compatible USB adaptor.

This may work for you. I have had very good experiences with buffalo showing up natively as a genuine airport extreme, but it was on a desktop PCI. I have dealt with these people before, they are really helpful. They should be able to answer any questions you could have. They do good, inexpensive work on powerbooks, too.

http://www.wegenermedia.com/buffwls.htm

I think that's right, yes.

That Belkin card should work. The 'vent' as you call it (I assume you mean the screen door, not the vertical slits) is simply the door for the PC card slot. When you slide your card up to it, it will fold upwards, when you remove your card it returns to keep dust and crud out of your TiBook.

TEG

With cards made by most companies, they are instantly recognized by the Mac as an AirPort Card. Just open up system preferences to turn on the radio and configure the network.

TEG